Friday, May 04, 2007

My sympathies go out to my friends and fellow bloggers in Texas, who are getting buried under a series of floods, tornadoes, and violent storms. I think that same storm system is heading in my direction...

ModFab continues chronicling American Idolatry and says a well-deserved au revoir. Meanwhile, Ken Levine perfectly chronicles the experience of watching the circle jerk that is the results show. Which is why I don't watch it.

After he called me awesome on his blog, I really need to return the favor and tell you that you really have to sign up to be a part of J.D.'s Ghiblog-a-thon, a celebration of Studio Ghibli and the greatest animated films of all time (which is to say, with one possible exception, every film they've made--and that one is still better than a lot of animated movies). Animation is one of the big concerns here at Electronic Cerebrectomy, so of course I'm participating. Why aren't you?

My boss at my other job (restaurant) was showing me some #'s last night showing that the Cubs have basically been almost mathematically eliminated. The sad thing is that the person who showed him was an exec for the Cubs.

TWO links!? Yay!! For the eighth time, YOU ARE AWESOME!! But what's the one that's not up there but still better than most animated films for that matter? Just curious. And the Maraka cartoon is actually a re-release, I posted it in the first week of April and moved it up because it is frickin' hilarious.

Ohh. I haven't seen it. Yet. But it's sort of weird that was one of the occasiona films by Isao Takahata, aka the man who earned a spot in animation history for Grave of the Fireflies alone. You have to admit that. And congrats on your Transmundanity. I have no idea what that means.

Ohh. So, that means you're so boring/repetitive/normal you deserve something for it? Okay then. Haven't seen My Neighbors the Yamadas either. Actually, the only ones I've seen are pure standards,

(Spirited AwayHowl's Moving CastlePrincess MononokeNausicaa of the Valley of the WindKiki's Delivery ServiceGrave of the Fireflies)

and please don't ask me to rate them in order! I don't want my head to explode right now!

*Trivia Note* I had actually seen Mononoke and Kiki before I had even ever known who Miyazaki was. Once he won for Spirited Away, I found out who he was, and was like, "WOW. Really? This guy really is good!"

Oh, man, I don't know that rating them is even possible. They're all so great.

That was a great day, when Miyazaki won an Oscar. You have so much more to see, and I know this sounds pretentious, but I envy you getting to discover them. I wish I could see them for the first time again.

I remember when he won. They showed the clip, I had no idea wat it was, and it won. I was actually angry and curious at the same time, seeing as I was wholeheartedly rooting for Lilo & Stitch (which I must admit for me is a close second to SA). I got it for Easter, and I LOVED IT. That's when I found out who he was and all the movies he's made. And I know, I must see them ALL before the 8th next month, Miyzaki and Takahata. I can't wait for it though.

Well, you could have a brian swipe, but that would cost at least $1000 a lobe I think. I don't think it's worth it anyway. You might forget where you live, and believe me, that's not good at all.

Honestly, I wasn't. Howl's was my vote (mainly because Nausicaa was ineligible, they're tied in my book because I can't actually decide which is better,) but W&G was still great fun and a great film and the easy predicted winner, since it was the highest grossing of the three, which isn't saying a lot, since it made $57 million. I'm really glad those three were nommed though, since they were the only three good ones of '05.

And I made a theory I should have listened to this year: Both times John Lasseter has been up for Best Animated Feature (Monsters, Inc and Cars) he has lost, while the two times he wasn't the director for a Pixar (Finding Nemo (Stanton) and The Incredibles (Bird)) it's won, and for good reason. Lasster does have an honorary (I think) Oscar for Toy Story, for the fact of it's importance, and I made this theory well before the nominations this year, and yet I predicted Cars to win.

Silly me. But Happy Feet was really, really barely adequete. I didn't really like it that much, and while Cars was not at Pixar's best, it would still be my vote. Monster House is good, not great, a little overrated, but still enjoyable, and leagues better than HF. I just wish more people saw Flushed Away! That's my clear winner for my own ballot.

Nick Park's films are wonderful, though. I'm sorry more Americans don't seem to get the gentleness of British countryside humor; those kinds of movies never seem to do well over here. I love Wallace & Gromit, and I did honestly think the movie was better than Howl's, although both were miles better than most of the other animation being released (that was the year Madagascar came out, for example.

John Lasseter's a good guy, especially as an animation exec and for finally bringing Miyazaki's movies over here in a way they deserved. As a director he's a little quaint, I think. He also didn't direct A Bug's Life, one of the two Pixar movies I find lacking (the other is Cars).

When I reviewed Happy Feet on Film Week not long ago, I said I hadn't seen a movie with its head that far up its own ass for some time. I was just absolutely wretched. I liked Monster House better. For my own awards, which I've still not put on the blog, I have my own set of rules, and while Flushed Away is absolutely the best animated feature of last year, my own animation winner is a series of computer-animated shorts they're airing on Disney Channel called Minuscule.

I've not seen Scanner, and I don't know that I'm going to. I don't like the director and I don't necessarily want to see yet another Philip K. Dick novel get destroyed on the screen. I also kind of reject the notion of it being animation, when it's traced over with a computer program. What's the point? They're trying to reach the Uncanny Valley point with animation, but all it does is destroy the medium and make it seem pointless. Scanner I would call special effects. But still, I haven't seen it.

By my weird, personal, always-changing Porter Award rules, Minuscule qualifies because the category I have is Best Animation, not feature vs. short film. I know you could also argue that Minuscule is special effects (CG characters against real backgrounds), but it's definite character animation.

It's ironic that Linklater would use a mannequin like Keanu Reeves in something that's supposed to be animated...

Actually, I found A Scanner Darkly pretty good, not excellent, but only because I felt like I was in withdrawl through it. And if the Academy qualified it for Animated, I do too, becuase basically that's what it is. I do feel a little weird puting the performances in the "Voice-Over" section of my awards, but I did, oh well. Robert Downey Jr is excellent as he most often is, and so is Winona Ryder, something I thought she couldn't do in this day and age, and Keanu is, well, he's surprisingly good. It's less than Monster House, but WAY more than Happy Feet, and I'm glad there is another person who loathed it, but you probably a little more than me. It had it moments, but overall, it scared me. Not in ASD good way, in a The Break-Up bad way. [shudders]